LNG newbuild is important for Meyer recovery

Meyer has been badly hit by Covid and has lost some 40% of its staple cruise ship production. At one point it was reported that some 1,800 of its 4,500 jobs could be threatened. Under a deal clinched just days ago to secure jobs, there will be 350 voluntary redundancies at Meyer and a further 100 job losses at partner company EMS Maritime Services unless things improve.

Meyer says the deal would not have been possible without recent new orders and briefly mentioned the residence ship order.Reporting further details of the newbuild now, Meyer said the 289.3m by 33.5m NJORD would be the first of its kind ordered at the yard.

With 117 apartments, all for private purchase, and accommodation for 1,000 passengers and crew, it is for delivery by the end of 2025 to Ocean Residences Development (ORD). The contract value was not initially revealed and Meyer said it was still subject to financing.

NJORD will “meet the most stringent environmental requirements both on delivery and further down the line”, Meyer said. It will be powered by as yet unspecified LNG engines and also boast “modern heat recovery systems and advanced energy management systems”.

Of mega-yacht design the ship will have low-emission LNG propulsion which, together with a hybrid battery system, will provide a speed of 21 knots, Meyer reported. In order to future-proof the vessel, engines and fuel tanks would also be prepared for easy conversion to future fuels with lower or neutral carbon footprints.

Meyer MD Thomas Weigend said the order was “another very important step for securing the yard’s location in Papenburg” – the Meyer Group’s north German home base. Weigend added “with the new order, we are expanding our portfolio of ship types and can thus also improve previously difficult prospects, especially for the years 2024/2025.

“This order is urgently needed to ensure that the decline in capacity utilisation will not be even greater than 40% in these years. Many different measures and new orders are absolutely necessary for the company’s programme for the future,” he declared.

Yard head Bernard Meyer also said the deal with the unions “only works on the basis of further orders for the years 2024 and 2025”.

He referred to three new orders which would “help to stabilise the lower utilisation of production”.

One was the residence ship for ORD. Another was an order in March from Japan’s NYK for a 228.9m x 29.8m, 51,950gt, LNG-fuelled cruise ship. Finally he noted the involvement of subsidiary Neptun Werft in a lucrative German government order for two naval tankers.

Bernard Meyer indicated that without the recent influx of new orders, the just completed yard downsizing package would have been more extensive.